Dispirited, he headed home through the cypress trees where bees buzzed and cicadas pulsed, unbuttoning his shirt as he went. In this weather he could change three times a day and still feel sweaty.

Then he saw her, sitting on his back doorstep, watching his approach.

Fingers on the final button, he froze like a stripper on his first night.

Shorts hugged her hips and her top rode up to give a glimpse of smooth stomach as she rose from her perch. ‘I’ve come to apologise,’ she said when he was still ten feet away. She removed her sunglasses so he could see her eyes.

He left his on. Last night it had been as if she could see into his soul when their gazes locked and it had made him realise how vulnerable he was to her. ‘You apologised last night and I … wasn’t particularly polite.’

Her smile flickered. ‘But you knew something I didn’t – that when I raged at you originally you’d done nothing wrong. That kind of thing tends to piss a person off.’

‘Pissed off’ didn’t begin to describe the pain he’d felt or the nights he’d failed to sleep. Every time he thought of Zia his stomach had dropped as if reaching for a rung on a ladder and missing it. He used his shirt sleeve to wipe sweat from his face. ‘Let’s go inside. I’ll put on the air con in the kitchen and you can tell me what’s on your mind.’ She followed him in and he took down tall glasses, filled them with ice, poured water over and handed one to her. She’d settled on one of the barstools and he took another, on the other side of the breakfast bar so he could see her but not be tempted to touch. Then he waited.

She sipped before speaking, as if her throat needed the lubrication. ‘It was Brendon who got in touch with Gerardo. He called himself my English boyfriend but Gerardo paraphrased and referred to him as my man. I thought you’d been trying to interfere, to manage my life, just as Brendon used to try to. I’ve had plenty of time to think since then, to realise I should have asked whether you were involved, not just believed the worst of you.’ She shrugged one smooth, brown shoulder. ‘Now I’m thinking straight, I doubt Gerardo even knew we’d been seeing each other.’ Puzzlement crept into her eyes. ‘Why didn’t you just tell me it wasn’t you?’

He didn’t want to reveal how his throat had completely closed in horror that she’d think him capable of such a thing. Mortification that she’d accuse without question had caused a gut reaction not to defend himself – and that had proved as damaging as her rage. ‘Why would Brendon do anything so shitty?’